An American TV host has backtracked on claims that he witnessed "Irish terrorists kill" while he reported in Northern Ireland during the troubles.

The Fox News host who has his own political commentary program 'The O'Reilly Factor' on the channel, claimed in his book 'Keep it Phithy', “I’ve seen soldiers gun down unarmed civilians in Latin America, Irish terrorists kill and maim their fellow citizens in Belfast with bombs.”

But Fox News has now stated that host O’Reilly’s claim that he saw action in Northern Ireland was based on seeing photographs of violence shown him by police, according to the Washington Post.

The Washington Post also points out he told syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt a different story: “We went on a raid in Divis Flats with the police. And it was a pretty intense situation. There was stuff being thrown, arrests being made, all of that.”

Fox News clarified saying that O’Reilly had been shown pictures of violent incidents and victims of bombings by police but had not actually seen any such incidents first hand himself.

O’Reilly went to Belfast in 1984 to research a book. At the time he was working for the Boston WCBV TV station but covered only local stories and did commentaries, though he did have contacts with Irish Americans concerned about what was happening in Northern Ireland.